Recently Dromahair's Avril Banks climbed Mount Kilimanjaro in aid of the charity, Aware, which aims to defeat depression, and in memory of her late uncle, Eugene Banks. Here, in her own words, Avril tells us how she did it............
My Kilimanjaro Experience –
“The Lemosho
Route
Climbing Kilimanjaro was not a lifelong dream of mine. In
fact, it took me all of one day to decide to do it. After seeing something
online about it last February, I decided there and then it was time for me to
set myself a challenge. A friend of mine put me in touch with Ian McKeever, who
brings groups from Ireland
to climb Kilimanjaro, and I asked him a few questions regarding the climb.
Before I got off the phone with him I told him to put my name down for the
September climb, I paid my deposit and I was ready to start training.
Between February and September I put in quite a bit of
training to get me into shape by climbing as many of the local mountains as
possible. The toughest being when I met Ian McKeever, and others training for
Kilimanjaro, to climb Croagh Patrick on a very cold, wet March morning when we
climbed it twice that morning. I put a lot of my fitness down to running with
my local Athletic Clubs, North Leitrim AC and Sligo AC.
After a lot of training and fundraising, in aid of AWARE in
memory of my late Uncle Eugene, departure date finally arrived. The actual
climb itself wasn’t what worried me, it was going on a trip like this without
knowing anyone. Arriving at Dublin Airport 2:30am , on September 3rd,
I spotted a few people wearing hiking boots. Sure enough we were all in the one
group.
KLM delivered us safely to Kilimanjaro
Airport Ireland ,
you’ve seen nothing. We just stayed one night there before our climb the next
day. A nice comfortable hotel and the toilets were luxury compared to what we
would enjoy on the mountain.
Day 1:
After a 2 hour long bumpy bus journey we arrived at
Londorossi Gate to get registered for the climb. No turning back now! We had another
40 minute drive before we arrived at our starting point. We met all the
porters, guides, medical team etc... We had our own personal porter who carried
our main luggage for us. My porter was called Pasco ,
he had his work cut out for him! There must have been a crew of at least 40.
Yes 40 people to look after 19 people. We were greeted with lunch and we met
our chef, Tuesday (that was his name). What he can produce in a tent at over
3000m on a gas stove is unbelievable. We then started our climb. Probably one
of my favourite days. It was a three hour trek through rain forest. We were on
our way to the highest point of Africa , Uhuru
Peak
Before we knew it, we could hear the sounds of Mti Mkubwa
Camp pierce through the tranquillity of the rain forest. I got my first taste
of camping Kili style. The porters had passed us out, carrying our main luggage
along with other camping equipment. Pasco
was waiting for me to arrive and he brought me to my tent which was all set up
and he had all my gear in it already. My tent roomie for the climb was Sarah
Doherty, a lovely girl from Donegal and working in Dublin .
We became fantastic friends throughout the week and supported and encouraged
each other. At camp we got a basin of
warm water to freshen up. We had popcorn and hot drinks waiting for us in the
mess tent. This is also where dinner was served. The mess tent is a large tent
that was fully kitted out with tables and chairs. Bed early with a hot water
bottle and all!
Day 2:
My first night on a Kili Camp site was better than expected.
We were awoken by a porter “good morning, how you sleep?” We then got a basin
of warm water and a mug of tea. After getting freshened up and ready to go, we
got our blood pressure, heart rate and O2 levels checked by Dr. Clemence,
William and Ian, which was done every morning. Back to the mess tent for
breakfast where we got porridge. It didn’t look very appetising but I ate as
much as I could as I knew I’d need it to fuel me for the day and as a very
picky eater I was afraid I mightn’t like lunch. I soon became known as Miss
Porridge to the porters! As we got prepared for the day ahead, I heard the head
porter, Baboon, shouting. He was calling the porters together and led them in
song as they did every morning for the rest of the week. It was brilliant and
really put us in a great mood for the day ahead.
I personally found Day 2 to be very tough. The trail
immediately steepened and narrowed and we left the tranquillity of the rain
forest, and onto Kili’s moorland. We stopped in a valley for lunch, rice and
chicken, delish! We refilled our platypus and bottles. After lunch we climbed
the Shira Plateau. We eventually saw our first sighting of Kibo (Kili’s Peak).
I couldn’t stop looking at the sunset on the glorious mountain. It was
breathtaking. We arrived at Shira 1 Camp for the night. At this stage we were
at 3600m.
Day 3:
Got our usual wake up call, medical check-up, breakfast,
song/dance etc.. At this stage I was feeling fine. No altitude problems so far
for me, although I heard some of the group were suffering from headaches. I found day 3 to be one of the easier days. I
noticed how slow we were walking. It was frustrating, as you want to walk
faster, but the guides know what they are doing. The slower you go the more
likely you will have success. The only thing that slowed us down was all the
pee breaks. I was going through 5/6 litres
of water a day. We arrived at Shira 2 Camp early that evening so it was nice
not to have to sort ourselves out in darkness in a small tent with a head lamp.
We got to know some of the porters a bit better as we passed the evening in the
mess tent playing cards. We went to bed knowing we had a tough day ahead of us
as it is the most important day for acclimatisation.
Day 4:
I woke up feeling like I had a hangover. When getting my
blood pressure checked with Dr. Clemy it turned out to be quite high so he gave
me a tablet for it. Today we reached a height of 4530m where we stopped for
lunch at Lava Tower Lava Tower Lava
Tower
Day 5:
Barranco Wall towers above Barranco Camp. Technically it was
the most difficult part of the climb. It was quite intimidating as I could see
other groups gone ahead of us scrambling up. I actually enjoyed it as it was a
change from the monotonous walking. It is a near vertical path where in places
you have to haul yourself up. Everyone was in great form and very encouraging.
It was a great relief to reach the top. From the top of the Barranco Wall we
then went down to the Karanga Valley
Day 6:
Most definitely the most difficult as two days become one.
Today we made our way to Barafu Camp from where we would make our summit
ascent. I knew the next two days would be the toughest of my life so I had to
get in the right frame of mind and remember why I was here! I hadn’t eaten much
for the last two days but I really forced myself to eat plenty of porridge as I
knew I needed it for fuel and energy. It was the shortest hike of the week.
When we arrived at Barafu Camp I really felt the cold. This camp is pretty
wild, perched on a high ridge it is an overcrowded jumble of rocks dotted with
hundreds of tents. I don’t know how but they slotted my tent in a lovely flat
spot surrounded by the rocky landscape. Got a lovely dinner as usual. The plan
was to get all our summit gear ready and sleep in most of what we were going to
be wearing for the summit. We retired to our tents at about half 5 to get some
sleep.
Day 7:
Wakey wakey!! 12:30am
we were woken up for breakfast. It was so difficult to drag myself from my cosy
sleeping blanket and get up in the middle of the night in freezing
temperatures. Our porters really showed their kindness here. My guy made sure I
was well wrapped up, tied my boot laces and checked my backpack. A few bowls of porridge, my pockets full of
jellybabies, headtorch, spare batteries, about 7 layers of clothes and I was
good to go! By 1:30am we were on the
long, cold relentless trek to 5895m. Pole Pole (slowly slowly), one foot in
front of the other. The first three hours were so tough and I had my first wave
of nausea. It just came out of nowhere. Our guide, Sam, gave me a tablet and I
was better within 10 minutes. I was so well wrapped that I hadn’t noticed how
cold it was. When I went to take a sip of water my platypus had frozen. Luckily
I was prepared with a bottle of water in my bag wrapped in a sock. I could see
Stella Point for hours, it looked so close yet we were going so slowly and
zig-zagging the whole way up that it felt like we’d never get there. We had a
break and watched the sun rise before finally arriving at Stella Point where we
were greeted by some porters with a mug of tea. Stella Point is often a place
where people are so exhausted that they cannot continue the 45 minutes to the
summit. I could see the summit in the distance, there was no way I was stopping
now. I was feeling tired but seeing the summit and seeing people coming back
down looking so happy and proud of themselves gave me a newfound spring in my
step and I was ready to see the challenge through. It was here I thought of the
advice one of my heroes, Gerry Duffy (professional speaker, entrepreneur,
author, coach, athlete), gave me back in April: “Believe you can and you’re
half way there”.
At sea level this walk would have taken 15mins; it took us
45-60mins. I could see the amazing glaciers all around. I really enjoyed this
last part as I knew the end was near and I was going to complete the challenge.
Finally, we reached Uhuru Peak
The highest point in Africa , the
highest free standing mountain in the world at 5895m and I was there!!!
It is almost impossible to describe the feeling reaching the
top. I wish it could be bottled. I’ll never forget the feeling of joy,
accomplishment and pride. I was there in memory of my uncle Eugene so there
were tears, but joyful tears as I know he was there with me.
Making our way back down in a day and a half was very
severe. It was relentless and very slippy through the rainforest. I just wanted
to get back to the hotel and have a shower and a nap and go for a few drinks
with our porters. I left a lot of gear to Pasco
and a tip. He was so so grateful.
What I learned from
this trip:
·
My personal, mental and physical
strength and determination to climb for 8 days and reach the summit;
·
I can say with pride that I have
climbed one of the seven summits;
·
The time to reflect on where I am
in my life and where I want to be. Believing that anything is possible with a
“can do” attitude;
·
How beautiful Kilimanjaro is, as
it rises through rain forest to desert and onto glaciers;
·
Pride in raising nearly €6000 for
AWARE- helping to defeat depression. Thank you for donating;
·
I made the most wonderful friends
on Kilimanjaro and it has given me huge self-confidence that I can go anywhere
and do anything I want.
Dedicated to my dear
Uncle, Eugene Banks RIP. I hope you
saw me near the sky. xx
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